1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to personal grooming devices and in particular to hairbrushes. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved hairbrush with folding bristles for compact storage when not in use.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been numerous attempts to manufacture a thin, inexpensive, reliable, and foldable hairbrush. With current hair styles, both women and men are using the contemporary plastic bristle brushes to groom and style their hair. Women typically utilize handbags to carry hairbrushes. Men, however, when away from home are typically forced to rely on a pocket comb to groom their hair. The reason for this is that typical hairbrushes are much too bulky to be easily carries in a man
s pockets, and because a truly functional, reliable, extremely low profile, and foldable hairbrush has yet to be manufactured where the brush can be comfortably stored in a trouser pocket.
To address this problem, several attempts have been made to introduce a hairbrush that can be folded or manipulated into a compact package to be easily stored or carried. Many of these prior art solutions rely on a sliding action to retract and extend a multiplicity of bristles into and out of a base member. Generally, this action requires the use of two hands; one hand is needed to support the brush, while the other hand is used to operate the sliding mechanism. The bristles are more often than not extended and retracted through various shape apertures, which can become clogged with debris such as dust, lint, dirt, hair, and hair gel. The sliding action also creates friction, which is detrimental to a smooth and repeatable operation. Several of these prior-art solutions, and the disadvantages of each, are discussed below. It will be easily seen that none of the prior art designs provide an acceptable solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,877 to Heneveld (Oct. 6, 1998) relies on a sliding handle member to retract and extend a multiplicity of bristles into and out of an array of openings. The bristles slide and bear against the walls of the openings which creates sliding friction. Any mis-shaped bristle or debris would increase the sliding friction, and perhaps jam a bristle. The bristles in their fully retracted state will still remain somewhat exposed, which increases the opportunity to damage the ends of the bristles. The brush is not equipped with an integral cover member. This results in a potential to collect debris, which would create additional friction when trying to retract and extend the multiplicity of bristles. Also, the brush under normal daily usage, will subject the bristles to repeated bending. After usage, the bristles might take on a permanent set which would interfere with the sliding feature, increasing the friction and hindering the folding and unfolding operation of the brush. Heneveld""s design is therefore unacceptable for any extended use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,390 to Chen (Aug. 9, 1994) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,902 to Fong (Feb. 16, 1993) disclose a multiplicity of bristles which are attached to a flexible membrane. The bristles are stowed by pushing on the flexible membrane which takes advantage of the reversible nature of the membrane position to collapse the bristles into a stowed position. This still results in a fairly thick brush, making back-pocket storage rather uncomfortable, as evidenced by the fact that they still have not yet replaced a pocket comb in popularity for trouser pocket storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,633 to Heneveld (Jan. 29, 1991) utilizes a handle to retract a plurality of bristles into a base cavity. However, Heneveld""s bristles do not fold over, which results in a very thick brush unsuitable for back-pocket storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,937 to Gorski (Jul. 18, 1989) relies on a sliding and rotating action to extend and collapse a multiplicity of bristles. According to Gorski""s design, the user must use a hand to collapse the bristles into a stowed position. The bristles are affixed to an arcuately shaped bristle bar. The arcuately shaped bristle bar will tend to be rather thick making pocket storage impractical and uncomfortable. Like many of its predecessors, it is not equipped with an integral cover, which results in the potential to damage the bristles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,818 to Perdiz (Apr. 2, 1985), discloses two embodiments. Both of these embodiments utilize a shifting plate, and a shifting projection to articulate a plurality of bristles into a position of use. The shifting plate translates within grooved side margins offering the potential to collect debris and become jammed. The shifting projections are small protrusions and do not offer much mechanical advantage in articulating the biased-shaft bristles. This type of mechanism requires that the user hold the base in one hand, and slide the shifting projection with the other hand to rotate the bristles into an operational position. These brushes are excessively thick for comfortable pocket storage due to the stack-up height of the handle, which slides underneath the bristle supporting plates, the bristle supporting plates themselves, and the removable cover. According to Perdiz""s first embodiment, the combined width of the brush body, the length of the bristle in the outside row while in the stowed position, and the cover, results in a very wide brush, which is also impractical for pocket storage. Perdiz""s second embodiment discloses a brush where the bristles fold in a longitudinal direction. The second embodiment, however, still presents an excessive overall height of the brush, making pocket storage impractical. A separate cover is required for both embodiments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,211 to Bottolfson (Feb. 12, 1985) discloses another sliding and retracting bristle brush. A plurality of bristles retract into and out of small apertures. The sliding action urges the bristles to bear against the aperture walls during operation, which creates the same sliding friction problems as discussed above with regard to Heneveld""s ""877 patent. The bristles are urged through the aperture into the position of use. If the apertures become clogged, or a bristle is bent in any way, the operation will become unacceptably difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,269 to Makabe (Jan. 22, 1985) also relies on a sliding and bearing action to fold a plurality of bristles into a stowed and operational position. A plurality of bristle bars and a movable flat board translate longitudinally, forcing the bristles against a plurality of guide-hole walls. This results in a bearing action which in turn rotates the bristles from the stowed position to the operational position, and back again. The bearing and sliding actions would tend to accelerate the wearing of individual components. Any debris will hinder the smooth operation and tend to jam the sliding and bearing components. As hair becomes entangled in the bristles, it would tend to lift the bristle bars, possibly unseating them from the movable flat board. The brush also requires a separate cover member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,723 to Kortick (Mar. 30, 1982) discloses a travel hairbrush having a plurality of bristle bars, with each bristle bar having an upper and lower pivot point A plurality of bristles articulates using a sliding motion of a slotted side bar member which is affixed to a thumb tab. Sliding the thumb tab forward engages the side-bar slot walls with the upper pins, which results in the rotation of the bristle bar about the lower fixed pivot point. One of the problems with this approach is the resulting overall thickness of the brush assembly. It is too cumbersome to carry this style brush comfortably in the back pocket of trouser pants. To obtain the amount of bristle rotation required, the slots in the side bar member tend to be rather long, which directly increases the overall brush thickness. There is also the potential to collect debris in the side-bar slots which would make the brush difficult to operate. Actuating the side bar from only one side of the brush would tend to bind during operation. The second embodiment, where the slide button is on top, adds to the overall thickness, making back pocket storage impractical.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,340 to Youngberg (Jul. 29, 1980) is similar to Heneveld""s ""633 patent, above, in that a plurality of bristles are retracted, full length, into a base member. The bristles do not fold when stowed, which results in a very thick brush assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,596 to Carlson (Feb. 6, 1979) operates similarly Heneveld, Bottolfson, and Makabe, above. A plurality of bristles bear against an array of sloped apertures during a sliding action which forces the bristles into an operational or stowed position. This type of sliding mechanism is inefficient, and prone to malfunction due to sliding friction, bent bristles and clogged apertures. Although numerous versions of this type of mechanism have been patented, none have gained any popularity as evidenced by their absence in the grooming industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,314 to Nathe (Oct. 24, 1978) discloses a collapsible brush with a plurality of bristle members, wherein each bristle member utilizes a cam feature in combination with sliding friction to rotate the bristles. The disadvantage with this approach is the sensitivity of the cam adjustment to the sliding plate. Any amount of mis-adjustment will adversely affect the operation of the brush. A separate cover is also required here.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,768 to Pascal (Jun. 14, 1977) discloses a brush in which a multiplicity of bristles are retracted through a plurality of apertures by the action of a slidable bristle bed assembly. Pushing and pulling bristles through the apertures, which is a common approach with the foldable brushes discussed herein, could jam when the bristles become slightly bent, or debris clogs any of the apertures. A separate cover would be required here as well.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,420 to Yalof (Aug. 31, 1976) is a single-row retractable comb. The comb utilizes a sliding rack and pinion gear mechanism to articulate a single row of tines. The rack and pinion mechanism is costly and complicated from a manufacturing, assembly, and operational sense. Any dust, dirt, lint, and hair, will tend to jam the gears. This type of mechanism would not be practical for a folding brush assembly.
As discussed above, numerous attempts have been made to build a compact folding brush, and in particular one that can be stored and carried in a trouser pocket. Each of the approaches described above is unacceptable for one or more reasons. Many prior art brushes rely on the extension and retraction of the bristles through a variety of apertures. Further, there is some sort of sliding action required for many of the brushes described above. For the reasons stated above, and for others not reported here, these prior art solutions have obviously not been well received in the grooming industry, as men and women typically do not carry the brushes described above. It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved hairbrush which can be easily carried and stored when not in use, and which is not subject to the disadvantages described above.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to avoid the disadvantages described above, and to provide a new and improved folding hairbrush.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an extremely low profile folding bristle hairbrush which can be conveniently stored in a small handbag, travel bag, or sports bag, as well as, stored comfortably in a garment that is being worn, such as a back pocket of a pair of pants.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a folding bristle hairbrush where the bristles are put into a position of use and non-use by the simple action of rotating a handle member.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a folding bristle hairbrush which can be operated with either one or two hands.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a folding bristle hairbrush where the handle member can function as a cover for the bristles in the stowed position.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a folding bristle hairbrush where the shape can be contoured, and still operate reliably and effectively.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a folding bristle hairbrush which can be cost effectively mass produced.
The foregoing objects are achieved as is now described. The preferred embodiment provides an improved folding hairbrush in which the action of opening and closing the brush extends and retracts the bristles through use of a lever system. This is accomplished by using a simple kinematic linkage which rotates the bristles into a position of use by merely rotating a handle member. The handle member in the preferred embodiment serves as a cover. According to the preferred embodiment, the bristles simply fold upon themselves, and do not extend or retract through an array of openings. In the preferred embodiment, spring-loaded pushbuttons, when depressed, will release a ratcheting cog which is engaged with the base, enabling the user, with one hand, to flip open, or flip close, the foldable brush, which will create a relative rotational motion between the handle and the base, as the base rotates to the either the open or closed position. This motion articulates the bristles to either a position of use or non-use depending on what direction the user is flipping the base.
The foregoing objects and advantages, as well as the characteristic features of this folding bristle hairbrush, will become more apparent with the following description and appended claims when read in conjunction with the enclosed drawings.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.